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Pope Francis’ address to the dicastery for laity, family and life
Clementine Hall – Saturday, 22 April 2023
‘Lay People and the Ministry of the Synodal Church’
“Baptism and ‘Gifts of the Holy Spirit’- origin of ministry in the Church”
Dear brothers and sisters!
I thank you for the work accomplished in these years and for the commitment with which you work in all the areas of your competence. These relate to the daily life of many people: families, the young, the elderly, associations of the faithful and, more generally, the laypeople who live in the world, with their joys and hardships.
You are a “popular” Dicastery, I would say, and this is beautiful! Remember: never lose this characteristic of closeness to the women and men of our time.
Closeness, I emphasize that.
In these days you have gathered to reflect together on the theme: Laypeople and the ministry of the synodal Church.
When we speak of ministries we generally think immediately of the “instituted” ministries: reader, acolyte, catechist – which are well known and which have been much reflected on. These ministries are characterized by a public intervention of the Church – a specific act of institution – and a certain visibility.
They are related to the ordained ministry, because they involve various forms of participation in the task that is proper to them, even though they do not require the sacrament of Holy Orders.
The instituted ministries, however, do not represent the full extent of the Church’s ministry, which is more extensive and concerns all the faithful from the earliest Christian communities, (see Apostolic Letter issued Motu proprio Antiquum ministerium, 2 in the footnote below). Unfortunately, little is said about it, yet you have rightly dedicated your Plenary Assembly to it.
First of all, we can ask ourselves: what is the origin of ministry in the Church?
We may identify two basic answers.
The first is: Baptism.
In fact, the common priesthood of all the faithful is rooted in it and is in turn expressed in the ministries. Lay ministry is not based on the Sacrament of Ordination, but on Baptism, because all the baptized – laity, celibates, married couples, priests, religious – are Christo fideles, (i.e. believers in Christ), his disciples, and therefore are called to participate in the mission he has entrusted to the Church, also by assuming certain ministries.
The second answer is: the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The ministry of the faithful, and especially of the lay faithful, derives from the charism which the Holy Spirit distributes within the People of God for its edification:
– first a charism appears, inspired by the Spirit;
– then, the Church recognizes this charism as a useful service to the community;
– finally, in a third moment, it is introduced and a specific ministry spreads.
And then it becomes even clearer why the Church’s ministry cannot be reduced to instituted ministries alone, but encompasses a much wider field.
Moreover, even today, as in the first communities, when faced with particular pastoral needs, pastors can, without resorting to the institution of ministries, entrust to lay people certain complementary functions, that is, temporary ministries, as in the case of the proclamation of the Word and the distribution of the Eucharist.
In addition, besides the instituted ministries, supplementary ministries, and other regularly assigned ministries, the lay faithful can carry out a number of tasks that express their participation in the prophetic and kingly function of Christ: not only within the Church, but also in the environments in which they are integrated.
Some of these are complementary, while others derive from the baptismal origin of the lay faithful.
I am thinking in the first place of the needs related to old and new forms of poverty, as well as to migrants, who urgently need actions of welcome and solidarity. In these areas of charity, many services can be developed that take the form of genuine ministries. It is a wide space of commitment for those who wish to live in a practical way, in relation to others, the closeness of Jesus which they have often experienced first-hand. In this way, service becomes not only a simple social commitment, but also something beautiful and personal, a true Christian witness.
I then think of the family, on which I know you have reflected together during this Plenary Assembly, examining some of the challenges of family pastoral care, including situations of marital crisis, the problems of separated and divorced people and those who live in a new union or have remarried.
Christofideles laici
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici.html
affirms that there are ministries which have their sacramental foundation in marriage and not only in Baptism and Confirmation).
Familiaris consortio speaks ofthe educational mission of the family is spoken of as a ministry of evangelization, which makes it a place of authentic Christian initiation (see footnote 1 below – no. 39).
And already in Evangelii nuntiandi it is recalled that the missionary character inherent in the vocation of marriage is also expressed outside the family itself, when it becomes “the evangelizer of many other families, and of the neighborhood of which it forms part” (cf. no. 71). I will pause here a minute, because I have quoted from Evangelii nuntiandi.
This exhortation of Saint Paul VI is valid today, it is topical.
Please: pick it up again, read it again, it is very topical.
https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html
With so many things, when you finds them again (you say): “Ah look, the farsighted Montini”. You can see the farsightedness of the great saint who led the Church.
I have given some examples of lay ministries, to which many others could be added, which are recognized in various ways by the ecclesial authorities as expressions of the ministry of the Church in the broadest sense.
One thing we must remember, however: is that these ministries, services and offices, must never become self-referential. I get angry when I see lay ministers who are – pardon the expression – “puffed up” by this ministry. That is ministerial, but it is not Christian. They are pagan ministers, full of themselves, aren’t they?
Beware of this: they must never become self-referential.
Service is one-directional, it is not a round trip: that will never do.
Its purpose transcends them, and it is to bring “Christian values to the social, political and economic spheres” (see footnote 2 below – Evangelii Gaudium, 102).
This is the mission entrusted above all to the lay faithful, whose action cannot be limited to “tasks within the Church, without a genuine commitment to the application of the Gospel to the transformation of society” (ibid.). Sometimes you see lay people and they seem to be priests by default. Please: correct this problem.
Looking at the different types of ministry we have listed, it is useful to ask a final question: what do they have in common?
Two things: mission and service.
In fact, all ministries are expressions of the Church one and only mission, and they are all forms of service to others. In particular, I would like to emphasize that at the root of the word ministry there is the word ‘mini’, which means “minor”. And Jesus said this: those who command should make themselves the least, otherwise they do not know how to command. It is a small detail, but of great importance. Those who follow Jesus are not afraid to make themselves “inferior”, “minor”, to place themselves at the service of others. In fact, Jesus himself taught us: “whoever wants be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants be first among you must be the slave of all” (Mk 10: 43-44).
Here isthe true motivation that must inspire every member of the faithful who undertakes an ecclesial task, every commitment to Christian witness in the reality in which he or she lives: the willingness to serve the brothers and sisters, and in them, to serve Christ. Only in this way can all the baptized be able to discover the meaning of their own lives, joyfully experiencing that they are “a mission on this earth”, that is, being called, in various ways and forms, to “”bring light, to bless, to animate, to uplift, to heal and to liberate”, and to let themselves be accompanied.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you once again for the work you carry out in the service of the holy and faithful People of God.
May Our Lady accompany you and obtain for you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I bless you from my heart, and please, I ask you to pray for me. I Thank you.
___________________________
Footnote 1:(Pope John Paul II’s – Familiaris Consortio– Note 39)
39. The mission to educate demands that Christian parents should present to their children all the topics that are necessary for the gradual maturing of their personality from a Christian and ecclesial point of view. They will therefore follow the educational lines mentioned above, taking care to show their children the depths of significance to which the faith and love of Jesus Christ can lead.
Furthermore, their awareness that the Lord is entrusting to them the growth of a child of God, a brother or sister of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a member of the Church, will support Christian parents in their task of strengthening the gift of divine grace in their children’s souls.
Footnote 2 (Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium)
102. lay people are, put simply, the vast majority of the people of god. the minority – ordained ministers – are at their service. there has been a growing awareness of the identity and mission of the laity in the church. we can count on many lay persons, although still not nearly enough, who have a deeply-rooted sense of community and great fidelity to the tasks of charity, catechesis and the celebration of the faith. at the same time, a clear awareness of this responsibility of the laity, grounded in their baptism and confirmation, does not appear in the same way in all places. in some cases, it is because lay persons have not been given the formation needed to take on important responsibilities. in others, it is because in their particular churches room has not been made for them to speak and to act, due to an excessive clericalism which keeps them away from decision-making. even if many are now involved in the lay ministries, this involvement is not reflected in a greater penetration of christian values in the social, political and economic sectors. it often remains tied to tasks within the church, without a real commitment to applying the gospel to the transformation of society. the formation of the laity and the evangelization of professional and intellectual life represent a significant pastoral challenge.
